Job Interview Strategy: What is your Weakness?

Ralph is studying at The American Institute to practice his English and improve his communication skills to become a flight attendant.

Almost every job interviewer, regardless of industry, salary, or country asks the question, what is your weakness? Yet, many recent graduates, and even seasoned professionals do not know how to answer this question. Do you just tell them your weakness? Of course not. You don’t want the interviewer to know that you are weak. You want them to know that you have strengths that would match the position they have to fill.

Here are some strategies on how to answer this question:

Discuss non-essential skills or attributes. For example, when you work in an airline industry, time management and customer service are very essential skills. So, you do not want to tell the interviewer that these are your weaknesses. Focus instead a skill that is not quite necessary in becoming a flight attendant, such as being funny. You do not have to be a comedian to become a flight attendant. You can tell the interviewer that you are only funny to your closes friends, but to strangers, you seem to be more on the serious side until they get to know you better.

Discuss the skills you have improved. For example, tell the interviewer that you once didn’t communicate very well in English. Now, after taking courses at the American Institute for English Proficiency, talking to other professionals, and communicating with all kinds of individuals, you have not improved only your English, but also your communication skills in general. The interviewer wants to know that even if you had a weakness, you challenged yourself and developed your skills.

Another strategy is to turn the negative into positive. For example, perhaps you can say that you were a perfectionist, which led you to spend too much time on a project. However, you have learned to work faster, work harder, and work smarter so that you can get the task done correctly sooner than later. Let the interviewer know that you are not a perfect person, but because you can now work more efficiently and more effectively, your task can be completed right away. Give examples, like when you were a basketball player, you were such a perfectionist that sometimes, you went home late because you kept practicing. Tell the interviewer that in order for you to meet your goal of being a starter, you took advice from and had skills practice with your coach and the team captain rather than practicing on your own over and over again.

As they say, practice makes perfect. Now, I have to keep reading this over and over so that it becomes more natural when I say it. Good luck to those who are also interviewing. If you would like to improve your English and communication skills to prepare yourself for a certain career, like Ralph who wants to become a flight attendant, you may visit us at the American Institute for English Proficiency in Makati or Quezon City.

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The Filipino experience through the senses of Chris Delacruz

Chris Delacruz

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I'm Chris Delacruz, co-founder of the American Institute for English Proficiency (www.aiepro.com), the Philippines premiere training center for English and communication excellence training in the Philippines. You may reach me at 0917-850-3456 or chrisdelacruz@aiepro.com.